Grammar Of Nigerian Pidgin
By Blessing Williamson Sep. 19, 2016
Nigerian Pidgin

This article is help document Nigerian Pidgin in the hopes that it will assist in the creation of simple children's books to aid kids and students whose first language is Nigerian Pidgin, which is the case for a growing number of Nigerian children in urban areas.

Habitual "too dey"
"E too dey sing" SE: "S/He usually sings"

Question 2nd Person "Are -> Be like say"
"E be like say you dey mad?" SE : "Are you mad?"

3d person "drop s/h"
"E like the girl/boy" SE: "H/She likes the girl/boy"


Habitual 3rd Person "drop s"
"He write non-fiction books" SE: "He writes non-fiction books"

Present "drop is/are"
"He sick" SE: "He is sick"
"They leaving" SE: "They are leaving"

Past "drop did"
"Which car he buy" SE: "Which car did he buy"

Present Perfect Progressive "has been => been"
"She been working first shift" SE: "She has been working first shift"

Past & Completed "bin"
"He bin gone" SE: "He left quite a while ago"

Double negative "ain't"
"We ain't got nothing" SE: "We do not have anything"

Quotations "say"
"MLK say, I have a dream'" SE: "MLK said, 'I have a dream'"

Relative Pronoun "drop that/who"
"We be the ones do that" SE: "We are the ones who do that"
"I heard he got a girl" SE: "I heard that he found a girlfriend"

Past "if/whether" reflection "if/whether => could"
"I was wondering could he come" SE: "I wondered if he could come"
"He wasn't sure could he come or not" SE: "He wasn't sure whether or not he could come"

Past completed "has => done"
"He done left" SE: "He has left already"

Future conditional "will have => be done" or "will have => done have"
"He be done finished by tomorrow" SE: "He will have finished by tomorrow"
"He done have finished by tomorrow" SE: "He will have finished by tomorrow"

Immediate action "finna"
"I'm finna be out" SE: "I'm about to leave"

Past tense "had"
"We had left at noon" SE: "We left at noon"

Third person possession "has => have"
"He have it with him" SE: "He has it with him"

There are locality "they got"
"They got loving people here" SE: "There are loving people here"

There is locality "it's"
"It's a door in the back" SE: "There is a door in the back"

Has + -en verb form "use past tense"
"He has wrote the book" SE: "He has written the book"

Possessive "drop s"
"It's Chris book" SE: "It's Chris's book"

Reflexive Pronouns my/ourself "replaced with object pronoun"
"We like us just fine" SE: "We like ourselves just fine"
"I left me three cookies leftover" SE: "I left myself three cookies leftover"

3rd person + action verb + indefinite particle "drop or truncate 'an'"
"He married Igbo woman" SE: "He married an Igbo woman"
"He fired a arrow" SE: "He fired an arrow"

Them/These locality "Them there/These here"
"These here flowers are mighty nice" SE: "These flowers are mighty nice"
"Them there gun touting maniacs" SE: "Those gun touting maniacs"

Past test marker + present verb
"Last time I cuss that nigga out" SE: "Last time I cussed him out"

prefix "-a" (rural)
"I'm a leaving now" SE: "I'm leaving now"

Complement "for to" (rural)
"We going for to get revenge" SE: "We are going to take revenge"

Questions "inverted is"
"Who that is?" : "Who is that?"
"What your favorite book is?" SE: "What's your favorite book?"

Those + noun "singular"
"Give me those card" SE: "Give me those cards"

Special Form Plural "add s"
"For all the mens too, not just the womens" SE: "Not only for the women, but for the men too"

Emphatic Consequential "so then"
"We was all hungry, so then we was like 'let's be out'" SE: "We were all hunger, so we decided to go out"

Apposition or Identity "drop of"
"Will I have more that pie" (Paul Laurence Dunbar - Relunctance) SE: "Can I have some more of that pie" 

Questions "is => be"
"How it be that way?" SE: "How is it that way?"

Questions "are => be"
"What the parties be like"? SE: "What are the parties like?"

Emphatic 'In addition' "even"
"I don't like them even" SE: "In addition, I don't like them"

Emphatic 'At all' "even"
"It ain't even like that" SE: "It is not like that at all"
"I don't even know him" SE: "I don't know him"

Future Negative "will not => gonna not"
"It's gonna not work" SE: "It will not work"

Grammar Dictionary (Standard English -> Pidgin)
know: sabi "You no sabi that place?" SE: "Do you know that place?"

Grammar Dictionary (Pidgin -> English)
wetin : what - Wetin dey happen? SE: What's happening?

Useful Pidgin Phrases (Pidgin -> English)
land slap : slap "If I no dey land you slap." SE : "If I don't slap you."